Onboarding Process

Deca Data Limited started in the state of Lagos, Nigeria, with a pre-seed capital of about $24,000 sourced between the founder and two co-founders. Using the 20 local government areas as an organizational system, Deca onboarded local citizens as partners, with the intention of having them contribute their laptops as servers for decentralized data storage while earning $333/day, a figure the company arrived at considering the market potential and the business they expected from off-takers.

Interested individuals had to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and also submit a form detailing the requirements for becoming a partner before being added to WhatsApp groups created for each local government area.

As the onboarding process continued, off-takers raised a concern about the international standard acceptable for data storage, making a point that the use of individual laptops is not acceptable. As a result of this concern, Deca management had to modify the requirement for being a partner by settling for the acquisition of standard, pre-built edge data center units that are faster to deploy and internationally certified. This new arrangement, which was duly communicated to partners, meant that the company would provide loan facilities to enable each partner to own a portion of the infrastructure and repay the loan through deductions from the revenue being generated, with the balance paid out monthly. In view of this significant change in the operational plan, the initial promise of $333/day is no longer feasible. However, partners still have a lot to gain from their "partnership" with Deca.

In the process of sourcing seed funding, potential investors raised the question of why the CEO is bringing partners onboard and what these partners will contribute to the business. They argued that partners should be properly documented, and they must show commitment to the success of the business. This query emphasized the need for a KYC verification exercise to become part of the onboarding process, reducing business risk significantly.

The KYC exercise involves two phases:

In Phase 1, a potential partner signs up on the Deca KYC website to get an auto-generated Deca ID number and submit certain details.

In Phase 2, the partner makes a non-refundable payment of N20,000 to facilitate the compulsory physical verification exercise and also show commitment to the business.

The KYC exercise started on April 15, 2025, and was scheduled to end a month later, on May 15, 2025. However, due to requests from partners, the management decided to extend the end date to May 31, 2025. It is important to note that every partner is expected to sign the partnership agreement on the KYC website and go through this exercise to be officially recognized as a verified partner at Deca Data Limited. Note that the partnership agreement overrides any conditions stated in the NDA signed earlier.

Aside from earning passive income from revenue generated with the servers, partners are also eligible for income through sales commissions on some other products and services of the company, including Deca Fiber Network and Deca Security.

Next, we will see a bird's-eye view of the product and service offered by Deca Data Limited.